http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/what-caused-the-blackouts-in-melbourne-and-do...What caused the blackouts in Melbourne, and do Victorians need to get used to power cuts?By Dan Harrison, Saturday January 26, 2019 - 12:34 EDT
At the same time, three electricity generation units at coal-fired power plants in the Latrobe Valley were out of action (
two due to unexpected outages, one due to planned maintenance) which reduced the amount of available power.
To make matters worse, the hot weather reduced the efficiency of the coal-fired power stations that remained online, further reducing the available supply of electricity.
These problems removed about 1,800 megawatts of electricity from the grid.
Did the closure of the Hazelwood power station contribute to the situation?
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien said on Friday Labor's policies had led to Hazelwood's closure, and the Coalition had warned this would leave the state exposed.
Hazelwood's closure in 2017 removed 1600 megawatts from Victoria's supply, but associate professor Liebman says this was an economic decision by its owners in a market that had more than enough power supply.
Mr McConnell said Hazelwood's closure had "not particularly" contributed to the power shortage in Victoria because the state had enough power without it, at least on paper.
He said were it not for the
two unplanned outages at other Latrobe Valley plants, coupled with the extreme weather conditions, supply would have been sufficient.
"If you had a heatwave and one of those units failing, we would have been fine," he said.
"Or if we had two of the units failing, but it was not a heatwave, it would have been fine.
"The combination of all three meant that it was going to be a difficult day."Ms D'Ambrosio said most of the 1800 megawatts of power capacity lost in the state on Friday was due to infrastructure failures in the state's coal and gas-fired power stations.
Forum
Pages: 
